Tracing the Tribe is a blog about Jewish genealogy - All the developments, tools and resources you'll need to peer more closely into your family tree. Created in 2006 at JTA's request, it is now independent.

25 December 2007

A great read on "Census sensitivity" in the UK's Economist magazine begins with a quote from the Torah and concludes with the somewhat humorous fact that 390,000 respondents to the 2001 UK census claimed they were Jedi (a la "Star Wars") in answer to a religion question.

"Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it."

The article goes on to say it wasn't the first census described in the Bible, nor the last, although King David's order to his army commander, Joab, went against God's will and punishment followed, as 70,000 Israelites died of the plague.

Taking a census became known as the "sin of David" and, in 1634, Massachusetts Bay Colony Gov. John Winthrop estimated the population instead of taking a headcount.

In 1753, there was such violent opposition to a Census Bill in Britain, that a member of Parliament feared riots would ensue if the bill passed.

Usual reasons for a census were to learn how many people could be taxed (to raise money) or how many males were available as soldiers. Such data was valuable for the home country and its enemies; a mid-1700s Swedish census was classified a state secret.

According to the story, revolution was another reason to count people. The American war of independence created a new nation with separate states, people were moving around and the government required representation for each state.

The first Constitution-mandated American census was in 1790, and other countries - Denmark, England, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden - followed.

"Where government is oppressive, people want to keep out of censuses, lest information they provide is misused. Where government provides, people want to be in censuses, and to boost their numbers, in order to claim a larger share of the goodies."

The dark side of census taking:

Jewish genealogists are aware of census problems, such as the Nazis who used records of populations to round up Jews, and much earlier when the Russian Tzars were concerned about taxes.

Germans, says the article, are still uncomfortable about being counted, although the reunited country is planning its first census in 2011. It won't be a full count, but only a sample, with surnames to be deleted as quickly as possible and all personal data erased after experts have finished; no race or religion questions will be asked.

China's 2000 census is also highlighted, during which enumerators visited some 350 million households in 10 days, asking asking such personal questions as “How much did you pay for your home?” and “How often do you wash?” Citizens were upset when asked about sex and age - The government wanted to learn about gender imbalance and female infanticide.

"In early 2007 researchers found proof of what had long been suspected: that during the second world war the American census bureau had played a part in the internment of Japanese-Americans by passing some of their names and addresses to the secret service."

There is much more to this long article including a bit about census-taking under Stalin, apportioning US legislative representation, hidden populations missing the count and difficulties of phrasing questions in a neutral manner.

No comments:

Post a Comment

About Me

Schelly Talalay Dardashti has tracked her family history through Belarus, Russia, Lithuania, Spain, Iran and elsewhere. A journalist, her articles on genealogy have been widely published. In addition to genealogy blogging (since 2006), she speaks at Jewish and general genealogy conferences, co-founded GenClass.com. Past president of the five-branched JFRA Israel, a Jewish genealogical association, she is a member of several professional organizations.

Tracing the Tribe: 2011's Best 40 Blogs - Heritage Category

Tracing the Tribe: 2010's Best 40 Gen Blogs: Heritage Category

Tracing the Tribe is #10

Tracing the Tribe "Best for Jewish Researchers"

RootsTech 2012 - Official Blogger

RootsTech 2011 Blogger

FGS 2011 - Official Blogger

Jamboree 2011 - Speaker/Blogger

Mirror Site

Tracing the Tribe's mirror site will not be updated as technical problems seem to have been resolved. Readers using Internet Explorer and still seeing error messages may wish to subscribe via email alerts or download Mozilla Firefox.

NOTICE TO SPLOGGERS

You may NOT use the contents of this site for commercial purposes without explicit permission from the author and blog owner. Commercial purposes includes blogs with ads and income generating features, and/or blogs or sites using feed content as a replacement for original content. Full content usage is not permitted. To ask for permission, write to ask AT tracingthetribe DOT com